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How it works
Excerpt
from the fifth chapter of
Alcoholics Anonymous
Rarely
have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our
path. Those who do not recover are people who will not completely
give themselves to this simple program, usually men and
women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest
with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not
at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are
naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner
of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances
are less than average. There are those too, who suffer from
grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do
recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our
stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like,
what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided
you want what we have and are willing to go to any length
to get it- then you are ready to take certain steps.
At
some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier
softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at
our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from
the very start. Some of have tried to hold on to our old
ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember
that we deal with alcohol- cunning, baffling, powerful!
Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who
has all power- that one is God. May you find Him Now!
Half
measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point.
We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here
are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program
of recovery:
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1:
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We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our
lives had become unmanageable.
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2:
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Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could
restore us to sanity.
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3:
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Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to
the care of God as we understood Him.
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4:
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Made a fearless and thorough moral inventory of ourselves.
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5:
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Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being,
the exact nature of our wrongs.
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6:
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Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects
of character.
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7:
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Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
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8:
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Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing
to make amends to them all.
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9:
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Made direct amends to such people, wherever possible, except
when to do so would injure them or others.
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10:
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Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong
promptly admitted it.
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11:
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Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious
contact with God as we understood Him, praying only
for knowledge of His will for us and the power to
carry that out.
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12:
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Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps,
we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and
to practice these principles in all or affairs.
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Many
of us exclaimed, "What an order I can't go through
with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has
been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to
these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that
we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles
we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual
progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our
description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic,
and our personal adventures before and after make clear
three pertinent ideas:
(a)
That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our
alcoholism.
(c)
That God could and would if He were sought.
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